NFC Payments Expand in Canada

Mobile money outfit Monitise has teamed up with Canadian cooperative financial institution Desjardins to develop and deploy NFC mobile payment capabilities to its members and clients.

Through the agreement, Monitise will develop the NFC-enabled mobile payment application for Desjardins in collaboration with EnStream, an m-commerce joint venture between Canada's major mobile network operators. EnStream was created by Canada's mobile network operators to facilitate the development of the country’s mobile payment market through a cooperative effort.

Currently, there are more than 20,000 merchant locations in Canada that can support contactless payment transactions. The mobile payment solution, which will be launched in 2014, and is in line with the Canadian mobile payment guidelines announced in May 2012 by Desjardins and the major Canadian banks, according to Monitise.

Desjardins, with $200 billion in total assets, operates more than 350 credit unions across Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick and Manitoba.

Bryan Yurcan is associate editor for Bank Systems and Technology. He has worked in various editorial capacities for newspapers and magazines for the past 8 years. After beginning his career as a municipal and courts reporter for daily newspapers in upstate New York, Bryan has ... View Full Bio